I went out with my 17yo Son on the weekend, and we picked up his new bike (new to him anyway!) It is a 1989 Kawasaki ZX2R. The colour is a bit out there, Its very bright canary yellow, black and white, but he likes it and that is all that matters.. He only got his L's for his bike about 3 weeks ago, so I had to ride it home for him, as he was not confident to ride it through traffic yet.I did wear a fullface helmet though, just in case anybody saw me on it!(LOL) I havent ridden a japper for over 20 years, and being a sports bike, I wasnt too confident myself! That sure is a weird seating position when youre used to the Harley! I was tempted to give it a bit of a squirt and have a bit of fun, but he was behind me in the car with the wife so I had to behave myself(LOL) I did give it a bit of a workout from the lights though and was quickly reminded of the power difference between a 250 and a big twin Harley with my fat arse on it! The car beat me (oh the shame, the shame!!) It wouldnt have happened on the FXR (It was a brand new Statesman though! and they are pretty fast!)  Being a four cylinder, the dang thing redlines at 19,000 RPM!! Holy crap!!! It has a mean power band that nearly ripped my arms off but by the time it got there the Stato was well and truly gone. Anyway he is just riding around the backstreets close to home finding his feet on it, and I took him out and followed him round on my bike, around the deserted factory areas on Sunday and did a bit of practice. He is progressing well, and by next week after more practice on the weekend, he will be riding to work, with me accompanying him on my bike for the first week, till he feels confident. It sure is great going for a ride with him on his own bike, one of those special Father and Son moments.

Good on you mate. Enjoy these special times with your kids.

Good onya Fx Im sure you have taught him the basics - like full braking at a bit of speed etc

Great news FXR man you must be proud to have your Son ride with you. I have 2 Sons that ride with me, it sure makes you feel good about yourself. Hope you have a great Father Son relationship riding together. Cheers.....         

It's hard to find those pegs on a sports bike for the first block or two isn't it?

Reminded me of my recent experience FXR. My daughter had a brain wave and decided to sell her little Jap car and move into the scooter world. Brave move I thought, but I encouraged her dream. With no bike license here in SA you can ride a 50cc and under bike with car license. Funny thing is the day she was to pick up the Piaggio Zip is the same day I dropped my Road King Classic in for a service. My girl organised it like that as she needed me to ride the scooter back to her place for her. (She had never ridden a bike or scooter before) So I jump off the RKC and walk around to the front of the shop to meet my daughter. There was the little red Zip waiting for the paperwork to be done. This lasted about half an hour and then Dad had to mount this tiny tiny machine and ride away from the shop. Very strange indeed....and I did feel like a dickhead.
When we got back to her place, it was time to let the girl loose on the scoot. I must say that this girl has had this dream for some time and in her mind she was going to nail this thing first up.
Well it was up and down the back street a few times. Then it was around the block turning left, repeated a few times. The she was going further and further, and I was amazed how well she picked up the skills. Naturally I had drummed into her all the things to look out for when on the road, never trusting cars at intersections etc....we all know the tricks and traps. Well I had to head back to the shop later and collect my bike, and leave my girl to her devices. Naturally I was worried, as any parent would be, but I was confident that she understood the traps.
She has since fallen in love with the 883Iron and is looking to the future. Naturally she will need to get a full bike license and it costs around $600 these days. I have promised to give her some money for her birthday so she can put it towards the rider training.
One thing she did when she got the scooter was to buy a decent nylon style jacket with armour, good quality gloves and a matt black AGV full face helmet, which looks slick.
So maybe one day in the future I will be helping her take delivery of a nice new Sporster.....can't wait.